"Yes," she said, "it was a ship belonging to one of my great-great-great-grandfathers, or someone like that.
He was bringing gold— big bars of gold— back in his ship—and it got wrecked off Kirrin Island."
"Oooh— what happened to the gold?" asked Anne, her eyes round and big.
"Nobody knows," said George.
"I expect it was stolen out of the ship.
Divers have been down to see, of course, but they couldn't find any gold."
"Golly— this does sound exciting," said Julian.
"I wish I could see the wreck."
"Well— we might perhaps go this afternoon when the tide is right down," said George.
"The water is so calm and clear today.
We could see a bit of it."
"Oh, how wonderful!" said Anne.
"I do so want to see a real live wreck!"
The others laughed.
"Well, it won't be very alive," said Dick.
"I say, George— what about a bathe?"
"I must go and get Timothy first," said George. She got up.
"Who's Timothy?" said Dick.
"Can you keep a secret?" asked George.
"Nobody must know at home."
"Well, go on, what's the secret?" asked Julian.
"You can tell us.
We're not sneaks."
"Timothy is my very greatest friend," said George.
"I couldn't do without him.
But Mother and Father don't like him, so I have to keep him in secret.
I'll go and fetch him."
She ran off up the cliff path.
The others watched her go.
They thought she was the queerest girl they had ever known.
"Who in the world can Timothy be?" wondered Julian.
"Some fisher-boy, I suppose, that George's parents don't approve of."
The children, lay back in the soft sand and waited.
Soon they heard George's clear voice coming down from the cliff behind them.
"Come on, Timothy! Come on!"
They sat up and looked to see what Timothy was like.
They saw no fisher-boy— but instead a big brown mongrel dog with an absurdly long tail and a big wide mouth that really seemed to grin!
He was bounding all round George, mad with delight.
She came running down to them.
"This is Timothy," she said.
"Don't you think he is simply perfect?"
As a dog, Timothy was far from perfect.
He was the wrong shape, his head was too big, his ears were too pricked, his tail was too long and it was quite impossible to say what kind of a dog he was supposed to be.
But he was such a mad, friendly, clumsy, laughable creature that every one of the children adored him at once.
"Oh, you darling!" said Anne, and got a lick on the nose.
"I say— isn't he grand!" said Dick, and gave Timothy a friendly smack that made the dog bound madly all round him.
"I wish I had a dog like this," said Julian, who really loved dogs, and had always wanted one of his own.
"Oh, George— he's fine. Aren't you proud of him?"
The little girl smiled, and her face altered at once, and became sunny and pretty.
She sat down on the sand and her dog cuddled up to her, licking her wherever he could find a bare piece of skin.